In Manila since January, here through October under the current contract, living above Robinsons Place, I've been eating my way through the mall. As far as I know, nobody has ever done anything like this, my unique contribution to the city's food/blog scene. I've tried all the restaurants on the 1st floor (currently 36, down from the initial 40), the 2nd floor (currently 8, down from the initial 14), and the 3rd floor (currently 30). And finally, to finish out this godforsaken project, I'm now on the 4th floor (currently 11). After tonight, 10 more to go--the home stretch--I can taste the end.

This is the 75th in the series, the 1st on the 4th floor. Padre Faure Wing.

Chowking is a Chinese fast-food restaurant chain. Founded in 1985 in the Philippines. Over 400 locations through the Philippines, as well as 19 in the US, 2 in Indonesia, 20 in UAE (really?), and 2 in Oman (really?). Limited menu, just a couple rice dishes, noodle dishes, dumplings, and "Chinese-Style" fried chicken. Usually packed with customers, another place that amazes me to see what Filipinos are willing to wait in line for.

Very un-Filipino, such meager menu offerings.

Point-of-sale marketing, I tried to get this, but they were sold out for the day.

The fried chicken was surprisingly good. While I was waiting in line, the fried chicken going out to other customers didn't look that great, all dried out like it'd been sitting around for hours, but it still looked better than the other crap going out, so I ordered it anyway. Fortunately, I got a piece from a fresh batch, glistening on the outside, juicy inside. In terms of taste, however, nothing about it was Chinese--except maybe the vaguely Chinese-ish fried rice and crackers that came as part of the set meal--typical American-style breading/seasoning, served with gravy in the typical Filipino style, but okay whatever. Could've been worse.